49208
Tentmaker
Here's my gripe -
Why do we, as members of this class, accept the totally lousy design/implemantation of the trunk/daggerboard at the forward edge.
What I'm ranting about is how the daggerboard and trunk wear each other down due to the forward pull of the shockcord and the raising and lowering of the board.
I have a less then year old boat, and within 20 hours of sailing had already worn a groove in the front of the trunk ! I also have a 1977 boat that where I have had to fill the grove numerous times, along with cleaning up the leading edge of the board.
I'm PO'd that we are expected to pay $4500+ for a new boat that eats itself as soon as you start sailing, especially when there are numerous solutions that would add little or no additional cost during manufacturing or as a sailor add on-
For example, when I'm not racing, 2 small layers of Duct Tape cover the worn in groove and prevent additional wear on both the trunk and daggerboard. It also has the additional benefit of adding just enough friction so that the blade doesn't pop up that annoying 1-2" when tacking during upwind sailing. The tape lasts at least 20 hours before it's worn thru - it's not even worth it to try to calculate the cost of roughly 2" of a roll of $8 tape
A small piece of marine carpet would do the trick too. I'm sure lots of other ideas exist out there to, but what ticks me off is that the rules have not been modified to allow this. Instead we are asked to destroy our trunk and blade and repair them constantly.
This is just un-acceptable to me. It's got to bug a lot of other folks as well. I'm not savvy enough to understand how to go about lobbying for a change, but perhaps Shevy or someone else with the knowledge would care to share what it takes to get the class to change/modify the rules.
I do know that public opinion always helps, so if you agree with me that it's time to fix this, please reply to this thread, and we'll let the class know that it's not just one or two nuts with nothing better to do then complain.
Why do we, as members of this class, accept the totally lousy design/implemantation of the trunk/daggerboard at the forward edge.
What I'm ranting about is how the daggerboard and trunk wear each other down due to the forward pull of the shockcord and the raising and lowering of the board.
I have a less then year old boat, and within 20 hours of sailing had already worn a groove in the front of the trunk ! I also have a 1977 boat that where I have had to fill the grove numerous times, along with cleaning up the leading edge of the board.
I'm PO'd that we are expected to pay $4500+ for a new boat that eats itself as soon as you start sailing, especially when there are numerous solutions that would add little or no additional cost during manufacturing or as a sailor add on-
For example, when I'm not racing, 2 small layers of Duct Tape cover the worn in groove and prevent additional wear on both the trunk and daggerboard. It also has the additional benefit of adding just enough friction so that the blade doesn't pop up that annoying 1-2" when tacking during upwind sailing. The tape lasts at least 20 hours before it's worn thru - it's not even worth it to try to calculate the cost of roughly 2" of a roll of $8 tape
A small piece of marine carpet would do the trick too. I'm sure lots of other ideas exist out there to, but what ticks me off is that the rules have not been modified to allow this. Instead we are asked to destroy our trunk and blade and repair them constantly.
This is just un-acceptable to me. It's got to bug a lot of other folks as well. I'm not savvy enough to understand how to go about lobbying for a change, but perhaps Shevy or someone else with the knowledge would care to share what it takes to get the class to change/modify the rules.
I do know that public opinion always helps, so if you agree with me that it's time to fix this, please reply to this thread, and we'll let the class know that it's not just one or two nuts with nothing better to do then complain.